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(N0 ModI) RfT. BRANKSTON. MOUNTING FOR QUICK FIRING GUNS.

No. 371,543.- Patented 001;. 1'8, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE...

. and moves with the gun when the gun is ship or battery. The'trunnions of the gun U swung back; which carries the gun and the RALPH T. BRANKSTON, OF NEVVGASTLE-UPON-TYNE, .ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WV. G. ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & OO.,'QLIMITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

MOUNTING Foa' QUICK-'FIRiNG leu s.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,543, dated October 18, 1887.

Application filed May 10, 1887. Serial No. 237,728. (No model.) Patented in England October 23, 1885, No. 12,729.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RALPH THEW BRANKS- TON, of Elswick Works, Newcastle-npon-Ty ue, England, engineer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain,have invented a certain new and useful Improved Mounting for a Quick-Firing Gun, (for which I have received Letters Patent in Great Britain, dated October 23, 1885, No. 12,729,) of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is a mounting for a quick-firing gun, which will admit of the gun, when out of use, being housed or turned to one side away from the embrasure, and so as to lie close against the side of the or gun-slide are carried in bearings upon a support consisting of a fork-1ike piece or casting having a descending vertical stem or pivot, which is received into asocket on the outer or free end of a gate-like frame. This frame is jointed to a bracket fixed to an armor-plate shield, in which there is a rectangular embrasure, through which the gun projects when in the firing position. The embrasure isthen partly closed by a semi -.cylindrical shield, which is fixed to the piece carrying the trunnions. This shield is concentric with the pivot,

trained upon the object aimed at. The movement of the gun in elevation, however, takes place independently of the shield, the port in which is sufficiently high to admit of it.

The mounting is secured in the firing position by means of lugs upon the fixed shield, which enter corresponding recesses in the gatelike frame and receive pins, which, when in serted, lock the gate-like frame fast to the stationary shield. I employ three such lugs,two immediately below the semi cylindrical shield (these are on opposite sides of the pivot) and a third at the bottom of the frame and centrally beneath the pivot. When housing the gun, these pins are removed and the gate like frame semi-cylindrical shield inboard and away from the embrasure. The gun is placed parallel with the side of the ship or battery, and in this position it is secured.

Figure 1 is a rear end view of a gun mounted in the manner above described. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, and Fig. 3 a plan, partly in section, of the same. In these views the gun is shownin position for firing. Fig. 4 is a plan, partly in section, showing the gun in its housed position.

A is the gun-support or fork-like frame in which the trunnions of the gun are carried, and which has a stem or pivot descending from it.

B is the socket in which this pivot is received.

G is the pivot by which the gate-like frame, of which the socket forms part, is pivoted to the armor-plate shield.

D are the bolts for fixing the gun in fighting position.

E is the curved shield fixed to the frame A.

F F are fixed shields placed to meet the shield E. As will be seen,the shield E always overlaps the fixed shields F, in whatever position the gun may be trained into, and so stops the opening into the ship.

When the gun is to be shifted from fighting to housed position, the bolts D are withdrawn and the mounting is swunginboard by revolving it around the pivot C, so as to bring the gun into the position shown in Fig. 4.

By constructing gun-mountings in the above manner the size of the gun-port is reduced to the smallest possible dimensions to give protection to the men working the gun, while at the same time great range of training and elevating can be obtained. The gun, also, can be quickly shifted from its housed position into fighting position, and vice versa.

Having now particularly described anda'scertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is- 4 1. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the gate-like frame supported at its inner end by a vertical pivot at one side of an embrasure, the gun and the gunsupport pivoted vertically at the outer end of the gate-like frame, whereby the gun can be drawn back from the embrasure and turned into a housed position away from the embrasure and out of the way.

2. The combination of the gate-likeirame supported at its inner end by a vertical pivot engaging the gate-like fraine with the fixed [O at one side of an enibrasure, the forked gunlugs, substantially as and for the purpose set support having the vertical pivot received forth.

into a socket at the outer end of the gate-like frame, the trunnions of the gun (or gun-slide) I carried by said support, the curved shield secured to the gun-support, the fixed shields overlapped by the curved shield when the gun is in firing position, and the locking-bolts for R. T. BRANKSTON.

WVitnesses:

\VM. JOHN GREY,

Notary Public. L. PURVIS. 

